A Pedagogical Model for Teaching Systems Thinking in a Sustainable Chemistry Course: A Design-Based Research Approach

Systems thinking (ST) is arguably one of the most fundamental competencies for shifting the world’s trajectory toward a more sustainable future. To effectively incorporate systems thinking into chemistry education at all levels, we must begin by educating preservice chemistry teachers. While the importance of ST in chemistry education has been widely emphasized in the literature, there remains a lack of adaptable and structured teaching approaches, especially in the context of preservice teacher education. This article presents a pedagogical model designed to integrate systems thinking within a contemporary sustainable chemistry context that can be implemented in university-level chemistry teacher education. The model was developed as part of a design-based research (DBR) project through iterative cycles informed by theoretical and empirical research. This article outlines how the model is grounded in the literature on sustainability education and systems thinking in the context of chemistry education. The teaching model includes a guest lecture by a chemistry researcher (expert-informed learning in contemporary contexts), a preparatory task, a main learning assignment (system model concept map and written explanation), and a comprehensive assessment rubric for the main assignment. The model helps preservice teachers to understand how chemistry connects to broader sustainability issues, grasp the fundamentals of systems thinking, and apply ST elements in modeling chemistry-related systems. It is adaptable and can be integrated into various teacher education contexts to support both content knowledge and pedagogical competence related to sustainability and ST.